Laundry Symbols: A Clear Guide to Care Labels

Here’s a clear guide to the care labels that you find on your laundry. Basically, they’re the small icons that will tell you how to properly wash and dry your laundry, different ironing temperatures, and different professional cleaning procedures for cleaning your clothing. Knowing these avoids shrinkage, avoids dye transfer, prevents knits from being warped, and extends the life of your clothes. Excessive heat or harsh machine agitation can really damage your clothes, so you want to avoid that.

Where are the symbols? First of all, there are three possible locations: side seams, your neckline, and your waistband areas. The process is actually that you have to read them from left to right, and there are four lanes which include the wash tub, the bleach triangle, the drying square, and finally the iron. A circle points to professional cleaning, so if you see a circle, that means you need to get it dry cleaned.

The Wash Tub Symbol (Washing)

The wash tub is the first icon, and it indicates the water temperature and the machine action. The maximum temperature in Celsius is the number shown there, and the white dots represent the heat levels through three stages of cool, warm, and hot.

• Single line beneath the tub: Requires a soft washing cycle, so don’t set it to the regular wash.
• Two lines beneath the tub: The washing machine operates at its most delicate setting, so you want to make sure it’s washed as a delicate.
• Hand symbol inside the tub: Requires hand washing. It’s not very common, but if you do see that, make sure to wash it by hand, do not exceed 30°C, and use gentle hand movements. Don’t wring out your clothes! Use a mild detergent, perform towel pressing to remove the water, and then flatten the clothing item to its original shape so the seams don’t get damaged.
• Crossed-out tub: This means that the washing should be done without water. You should not wash it at home; it requires professional cleaning only when necessary.

Spin Agitation and Why Underlines Matter

The underlines on the fabric label indicate that the material will experience stretching, pilling, and finish deterioration when people move normally. Lower spin speeds and shorter cycles will actually create less friction, extending the life of that clothing item.

Pro Tip: Using a mesh bag can really help. If an item has hooks, zippers, or straps, a mesh bag prevents damage to the clothing item as well as the washing machine.

Water Temperature: Cool vs. Warm vs. Hot

If it has one or two dots, or if it says 30, that usually means you need to wash it at 30°C or less. There are two reasons why you want to use cooler water: number one, it protects the dye and color, and number two, it stops the fabric from shrinking.

Now, oil extraction becomes more effective when you use warm water because it removes oils and light soil particles better than cold water does. Just keep in mind that while hot water speeds up the cleaning, it will damage elastane materials and cause dark cotton colors to fade. Also, the process of stain setting will occur when you do not perform adequate rinsing of the item.

The Triangle Symbol (Bleaching)

• Plain triangle: Indicates that bleach usage is allowed, though there’s no requirement to use it.
• Two diagonal lines inside the triangle: Means the product contains non-chlorine bleach (which is usually oxygen bleach), so that’s what you should use.
• Crossed-out triangle: Indicates that you should not use bleach at all, which includes whitening powders, by the way.

How to Brighten Whites Without Bleach

If you have brighter whites but can’t use bleach on them, you need to use some alternative methods. You can soak them in cool water for an extended period of time, apply stain removal products before washing them, and make sure to rinse them well. You can actually use vinegar as a solution, but it can damage certain dyes and finishes, so be cautious with vinegar.

The Square Symbol (Drying)

A square means drying. If you see a square with a circle inside it, that means you can use tumble drying.

The circle contains heat level indicators using dots:

• One dot: Low heat
• Two dots: Medium heat
• Three dots: High heat
• Crossed-out circle inside the square: You cannot use a dryer at all.
• Crossed-out square: Do not use the tumble drying method at all; you may want to just hang it up to dry.

Drying Style Tip: When tumble drying delicate items, use a gentle cycle and take the item out when it reaches a slightly damp state to stop it from becoming over-dry.

Air Drying Symbols:

• Curved line at the top of the square: Line dry (hang it on a line to dry).
• Horizontal lines inside the square: Dry flat (this protects sweaters and heavy knits from stretching).
• Three vertical lines inside the square: The item needs to dry through drip drying while avoiding any need to wring it out.
• Diagonal shade line: Indicates the item should remain dry in the shade to prevent fading of the surface, so don’t put it out in the sun.

The Iron Symbol (Ironing & Steaming)

The iron icon indicates that you can use ironing, and the dots tell you the heat limit:

• One dot: Lowest heat setting, used for synthetic fibers.
• Two dots: Suitable for wool and wool blends.
• Three dots: Suitable for cotton and linen.
• Crossed-out iron: You should not use ironing, but you can use a steamer at a safe distance if the fabric allows for it. Just try it on a small piece of fabric first!

Steam Limits

The presence of crossed steam marks indicates that you should stay away from steam because the combination of heat and moisture will result in water spots or pile damage. If you need to get it flat, you can apply pressure through a pressing cloth instead of steaming it.

Professional Cleaning (The Circle)

A circle means that the item requires expert cleaning. Take it to a dry cleaner. By the way, when you go to a professional cleaning service, make sure to show the label to the cleaner and point out any sort of stains that are on the item.

Common Symbol Combinations & Missing Tags

Here are a few common combinations you’ll see:

• Tub with 30°C + an underline + a crossed triangle + a line dry square: This means you wash it in cool water with gentle cycles, don’t use bleach, and do air drying.
• Tub with 40°C + two dots + a tumble dry square: This means it should be washed in warm water and dried at medium heat.

What if there is no tag?

Whoops! You have a piece of clothing and there’s no tag on it, what do you do there? In that case, your safest bet is to wash it in cool water with a gentle cycle, avoid using bleach, and let it air dry.

This no-tag rule usually applies to wool and silk materials. Structured jackets should probably be taken to a dry cleaner. You should only apply heat after you see what it does to the fiber. For example, you can try ironing a small piece of fabric on the inside bottom part of the clothing just to see what it does before you apply heat to the entire piece.

That’s how you check the tags on your laundry! It’ll help you make no mistakes and prevent you from damaging your clothes. So, make sure that you check your laundry for these tags.

If you need some sort of house cleaning services, you can contact us at NW Maids – that’s nwmaids.com.